


fatal runtime error

by phurn



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Trans Octane, autistic wattson, basically the respawn beacons stop working and it hits the fan, there's a little sprinkle of tae joon/natalie if you look for it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26365150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phurn/pseuds/phurn
Summary: they say death catches up to everyone.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Wattson | Natalie Paquette, Mirage | Elliott Witt/Octane | Octavio Silva
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	fatal runtime error

_ Attention all Legends, immediately cease fire. I repeat, all Legends, immediately cease fire. This game has been terminated due to technical difficulties. Cease fire immediately and proceed to the rendezvous point on your minimap. All points from this game will be reset. Repeat: all Legends, immediately cease fire and proceed to the point marked on your map for evac.  _

World’s Edge ground to an eerie halt; it was strange not to hear the area littered with a hail of gunfire. Legends across the map immediately (if not hesitantly) ended their bloodsport, picking one another up and losing their airs of tension and toughness. As quickly as it began, the blood lust ended, and was replaced by a casual camaraderie.

\---

With a heaving sigh, Loba took her heel off Bangalore’s neck. 

“Congratulations, Colonel. Saved by the bell.” she smirked, offering her a hand.

“ _ Lieutenant _ .” Anita corrected, pulling herself up unaided. “What’s the deal anyway? Games only stop if there’s something seriously up with their hardware.” she mused, rubbing her chin.

“Eh, who knows? Probably the beacons stopped working or something.” Loba hummed, holstering her gun. “It’d only be something very serious, I imagine. No game means no money.”

\---

A few miles away, a silent hunter held fire.

_ “Artur, snúa aftur.”  _ Bloodhound commanded softly, putting down their Longbow. Artur landed on their outstretched arm, nuzzling in gently for a beak scritch, which Bloodhound lovingly gave.   
“Odd.” they hummed under their breath. “I can only hope my fellow  _ félagi  _ have ceased their hunt.” Worriedly, Bloodhound sensed that was not the case, sliding down the hill before them to reach the dropzone.

\---

Crypto frowned, stood with his arms crossed next to the more-aloof Lifeline. They listened to the tannoy, silently debating its hidden meaning.

“Maybe the ring?” Lifeline guessed, twirling a drumstick idly.

“Hm, maybe. Where’s Natalie?” he asked, looking around. “She went up to the skyhook to look around a minute ago, maybe we should go find her.  _ Naega geogjeong _ .”

“Ah, forget it. She’s probably heard the announcement, she’ll be back soon.” Lifeline assured the hacker, offering an optimistic smile. “Girl’s smart, Crypto. Don’t go worryin’ about her.”

“Hey!” called a familiar voice, and Crypto looked up to see Mirage, Octane, and Wraith approaching them in varying states of mirth.

Meanwhile, at Skyhook, Wattson calibrated the fences around her idly, humming a soft tune. The ear defenders she wore under her hood helped deafen the debilitating din of melee; it also meant that she was blissfully unaware of the ceasefire that had been ordered, and the new mood around the arena was completely lost to her. She picked up her Sentinel, peering through the sights to look around. Caught in her crosshair was a certain Mr. Silva, advancing on her seemingly-unaware squad.

“Ah, Octavio! Time to meet your maker.” she chuckled innocently, plugging a shield cell into the port on the side of the barrel. “This is going to give you quite a  _ shock _ .” she added, with a grin.

“You guys hear the voice in the sky? What’s the deal?” Octane jogged ahead of the group, and Wraith ground to a halt behind him, as her voices began to simmer.

“Dunno. Have you lot seen Natalie?” Ajay asked with a sigh.

_ “A sniper. Skyhook. Octane.”  _ a voice whispered in Wraith’s ear.  _ Oh fuck. _ Her head whipped over to Skyhook, just in time to see the flash of Wattson’s orange puffer coat and the glint of a sniper barrel.

_ “NATALIE, STOP--” _

**_BANG._ **

Time slowed down for a moment; to Wattson’s credit, she was a crack shot. The blow caught Octane square in the chest and, with his shield already down from an earlier skirmish he hadn’t bothered to recover from, the bullet tore through his chest effortlessly. Octane was knocked off his feet, landing in the now blood-soaked snow, the blossoming pain in his chest and the taste of metal in his throat the only clues as to what had transpired as quick as lightning. 

The first to react was Lifeline, her medically-trained mindset matched only by her fierce love for her childhood friend, and the fear of losing him. D.O.C was by her side like a well-trained gun dog, ready to provide critical help. The next to react was Wraith, placing herself in between the scene unfolding behind her and the sights of Wattson’s weapon and gesturing with her arms for her to stop firing.

\---

“Quoi?” Wattson mumbled to herself, lowering her gun and watching as her allies rushed to Octane’s aid in a flurry of panic. 

_ There was no deathbox, no respawn banner. _

With a silent horror forming in her gut, she pulled down her hood and removed her ear defenders, finally hearing the authoritative voice above them and digesting its words. Slowly putting two and two together, she dropped her gun, only to cover her mouth with both hands with a mixture of dread and grief.

_ She’d killed him. _

\---

The last to react was Mirage, awestruck and blindsided, almost too terrified to even approach the situation and prove its legitimacy.  _ There was blood everywhere: Octavio’s blood.  _ The realisation helped snap him out of his haze; that, and the painful noise coming from under that elevation mask as Octane tried to gasp for air in a pair of lungs quickly filling with blood. 

“Hahahaaa! That was fucking awesome!” Octane cackled, almost as if he didn’t realise he’d been shot. His train of thought was halted by the blood sputtering out from between his teeth, and the metallic taste infecting his mouth. “Augh.  _ Ow _ . That hurts pretty bad.”

Mirage dropped to his knees next to Octane’s head, pulling his goggles up and taking off his mask gently.

“You’re okay, Tavi. Don’t move.” he assured, mostly to himself. “You’re fine, just keep still.” 

“We’ve got to get to the evac ship; they’ll have facilities on board.” Ajay instructed, slipping back into her composed medical personnel persona.

“Got it.” Wraith responded, getting up and phasing away, leaving the promise of a portal behind her with the strange orb flickering in the air where she once was. Mirage propped the adrenaline junkie’s head up onto his knee, to which Octane responded by turning his head and coughing up a fresh slick of blood. Mirage squeezed his hand, leaning down and smoothing his fingertips against Octane’s shaved temple in an attempt to calm him as the primal fear of death began to kick in.

“Just breathe, Tav, we’ll get you all fixed up in no time.” Mirage continued, the waver in his tone betraying the conviction he was trying to portray. “You’re gonna be okay, I promise, just hold on to me.”

Octavio knew damn well Elliot was just as terrified as he was, lying in the cold snow and feeling his arms slowly going numb and cold. Every breath was effort, and anywhere that wasn’t numb was exploding with pain. Ajay shifted him gently to remove his chest piece, and Octavio heard a distant wail of pain that he was  _ fairly  _ sure wasn’t his. His vision began to blur, and he felt so remarkably tired; more tired than he’d ever felt in his life. His attention was only maintained by Elliot hovering above him, misty-eyed and panicking. He loved the trickster so much it hurt, and the squeeze against his hand made him want to fight so hard to stay awake, to stay alive…

“El, m’not ready.” Octane mumbled through deathly fatigue and an airway full of blood. “Not ready t’ die. Not yet.”

Ajay began winding a length of gauze around his midriff, trying to plug the small entry wound in his chest and the gaping exit wound in his back. It was apparent that he was in a lot of pain as Lifeline shifted him around gently, whining softly like a wounded animal.

“You’re not dying Tavi, not today.” Mirage replied, a level of conviction concealing a visceral sadness, “You’re gonna die an old-ass man if I have anything to do with it. I’m not losing you too, Tav; hang on to me.” He punctuated his instruction with another squeeze of his hand as Octavio began to shake and spasm uncontrollably.

“The blood loss has him cold.” Crypto realised, finally finding some purpose in the situation. “Here.” he added, whipping his coat off and enveloping Octane’s tiny form in it as Ajay tied off the makeshift bandages. This seemed to give him some comfort; he curls into the warm fabric slightly as Wraith’s portal coalesced behind them.

“Okay, we gotta move him.” Lifeline decided, preparing a syringe of liquid. “Deep breath, Silva. Don’cha be dyin’ on me now, we’ve still got noodles to eat in the fridge.”

“Take him with you; I will bring Natalie. She may need some coaxing down.” Crypto decided, “I will rendezvous with you all later. Like the doctor says, Octane: if you die, I will kick your ass.” 

Octane offered the hacker a tired thumbs-up as Mirage lifted him into his arms, gently, as if he were made of wet tissue paper. “Wouldn’ give y’ the’ satisfaction, ya weirdo.” he mumbled quietly, as the group slipped through the portal.

**Author's Note:**

> mirage has a lowkey panic attack while octane literally fucking dies is pretty much how any game of apex goes tbh


End file.
